A Biblical Home Education by Ruth Beechick ~ Review
A highly recommended favorite from a skilled teacher and curriculum developer who greatly impacted the homeschool community.
Tag How-To Helps
Things to Do: August 2021
Things to do in August: Wrapping up summer and looking ahead to a more routine existence! Free resources.
7 Scopes & Sequences and Tips for Using Them
Here are 7 handy scopes and sequences, but first a few tips on how to use them.
What Type of Learner Do You Have
People learn things in different ways. Some learn by watching demonstrations. Some learn better with diagrams and charts. Still others learn best by getting in there and doing something. By understanding how our students learn best, we can present new…
Editable Graphic Organizer Templates ~ Free
Organize thoughts, develop the big picture. Free editable graphic organizer templates!
Step-by-Step Guide to Homeschooling {Updated}
Our Step-by-Step Guide was the first thing we published back in 2001 when we started our original HomeHearts site. The guide has been frequently updated, but the principles really haven’t changed. If you are new to homeschooling, take a look.…
3 Simple Summer Tips for Home Tutors
Even if you educate all year long, you may want to keep about one month free over the summer to evaluate what worked, what didn’t work, and what you might want to change about the past year. The summer is…
Things to Do: August
Finish up summer with some summer-fun experiments and units, nature walks, good reads, and good food — while gathering up resources for the new year ahead! Feel the heat. Experiment with watermelons. As you look ahead to next year, consider…
The Well-Trained Mind {Review}
Jessie Wise taught three children at home from elementary school through high school; all three completed college degrees and two also completed graduate degrees — including Susan Wise Bauer. Drawing on their combined teaching, homeschool, and educational experiences, they have…
For the Children’s Sake ~ Review
For the Children’s Sake is an important read for DIY homeschool moms whose efforts are aimed at something bigger than a generic education for their children. Review.
A Twaddle-Free Education ~ Review
Back in our early days of homeschooling, when the Internet was still getting off the ground, one of the first sources I found for information on Charlotte Mason was Deborah Taylor-Hough. Granted, every Charlotte Mason “expert” has her own bent…
Alpha-Phonics Workbook {Free}
Alpha-Phonics workbook free. We make reading more complicated than it needs to be.
102 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum
Back in the day … way back … Cathy Duffy had two books on the market that covered all (or nearly all) of the curriculum options available for homeschool families at that time. Folks, there just weren’t that many —…
22 Ways to Love, Do & Think Every Day
Looking for simplicity? Use this three-pronged approach to building a better learner.
Natural Speller: Review & Helps
Natural Speller by Kathryn Stout is part of a series of books from Design-A-Study that help the DIY homeschoool Mom craft her own custom curriculum, focusing on going at the student’s pace, while working toward mastery. It is the only…
Drawing Made Easy {Free eBook}
Drawing Made Easy is another wonderful book by E.G. Lutz. I would classify it as the next step after What to Draw and How to Draw It. Subtitled A Helpful Book for Young Artists, Drawing Made Easy provides step-by-step detail…
Dinah Zike’s Foldables {Free}
Foldables or lapbooks are multi-dimensional graphic organizers useful for making concepts stick.
Self-Teaching Handwriting Course {Free}
Palmer course of handwriting has the goal of producing a student who can write legibly.
Arithmetic for Young Children {Free eBook}
How do we learn most things? By doing them. Then when we have that experience under our belts and have a familiarity with them, we are ready to “talk” about them. So it is with math. Before we can discuss…
How to Write Clearly
Dr. Beechick's ideas when it comes to writing are are summarized in her book, How to Write Clearly: The Meaning Approach.
Drawing for Beginners {Free eBook}
Drawing for Beginners by Dorothy Furniss is surprisingly robust for a beginner’s drawing book. After a few pages devoted to technical hints (principles of drawing with various mediums), the book jumps right into the subject at hand, suggesting a sampling…
Drawing With Children {Review}
Drawing with Children was written for parents to enjoy drawing with their children, but the book can also be used for self-teaching.
Learn to Write the Novel Way: A Review
Carole Thaxton, co-author of KONOS Curriculum, has discovered an excellent way to encourage our children to write! Intelligent students are not excited about grammar drills UNLESS they see their meaning within the whole. In other words, the ingredients are not…
Review: Who Should We Then Read?
Digging into the literature available and mining out the gems for our children is a never-ending and daunting task for the DIY Homeschooler. That is why we treasure those “Books About Books” that make our job easier. Who Should We…